Cloud based collaborative mobile emergency call initiation and handling distribution system

• US 9,462,444 B1
• Filed: 09/20/2011
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NICE North America LLC
• Original Assignee: Nortek Security & Control LLC (Melrose Industries Plc)
• Inventors: Fish, Ram David Adva, Messenger, Henry, Goldshtein, Evgenia
• Primary Examiner(s): Mitchell, Nathan
• Assistant Examiner(s): DONADO, FRANK E
• Application Number:
  US13/237,879
• Time in Patent Office: 1,841 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 1/07 Indicating devices, e.g. for remote indication indicating working conditions of vehicles G07C5/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72421 with automatic activation of emergency service functions, e.g. upon sensing an alarm
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

An apparatus wearable by a user for automatically contacting a public safety access point (PSAP) is disclosed. The wearable apparatus includes several sensors for obtaining datasets. One of datasets is a location of a user. The wearable apparatus also includes a cellular transceiver. The cellular transceiver transmits the datasets to a cloud computing system, receives a classification of the datasets as a user state from the cloud computing system, and contacts a safety access point (PSAP) (e.g., 9-1-1 emergency services, an automated emergency call center, etc.) based on the location of the user.

Claims

1. A wearable apparatus for contacting a public safety access point (PSAP), the wearable apparatus comprising:

a plurality of sensors for obtaining a plurality of datasets, wherein one of the plurality of datasets is a location of the user;

a processor to;

select, at least one of the plurality of datasets or features obtained by the plurality of sensors,

determine whether the apparatus has a non-zero threshold amount of remaining processor power sufficient for feature extraction; and

when the apparatus is determined to have a non-zero threshold amount of remaining processor power sufficient for feature extraction,

extract at least one feature from the at least one selected dataset, and otherwise, use a cloud computing system to extract the at least one feature, when the apparatus is determined to not have a non-zero threshold amount of remaining processor power sufficient for feature extraction; and

a cellular transceiver, coupled to the processor, to;

transmit the at least one dataset to the cloud computing system over a cellular network, the apparatus further comprising an accelerometer to measure an acceleration of the user, wherein

the at least one processor and the cellular transceiver are configured to;

transmit the at least one dataset based on a measured change in acceleration of the user to at least one of the PSAP and the cloud computing system;

receive a classification of the transmitted at least one dataset as one of a plurality of user states indicative of emergency assistance required by the user from the cloud computing system based on the features extracted from the datasets;

and contact a PSAP based on the location of the user, the classification and a proximity of the PSAP to the location of the user.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cellular transceiver is to transmit the one of the plurality of user states to the PSAP.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, the plurality of sensors comprising an aGPS receiver to determine the location of the user.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cellular transceiver is to transmit the location of the user to the PSAP.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein contacting the PSAP comprises selecting the PSAP based on a proximity of the PSAP to the location of the user.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the PSAP is at least one of 9-1-1 and an emergency response center.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensor comprises a microphone for receiving audio and the cellular transceiver is further to transmit the audio to the PSAP.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cellular transceiver is to transmit information from the accelerometer about a measured change in acceleration of the user to at least one of the PSAP or the cloud computing system.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the microphone and the cellular transceiver are to permit a voice conversation between the user and the PSAP.

10. A method for contacting a public safety access point (PSAP), the method comprising:

receiving, by a cloud computing system over a cellular network, at least one dataset from an the apparatus worn by a user, the dataset obtained from sensors, wherein the wearable apparatus selects the dataset to be used for extraction of a feature, wherein at least one extracted feature is extracted by the wearable apparatus when a remaining non-zero threshold amount of processing power of the wearable apparatus is sufficient for feature extraction and is otherwise extracted by the cloud computing system when the remaining non-zero threshold amount of processing power of the wearable apparatus is insufficient for feature extraction,

and wherein the at least one dataset is a location of the user, the apparatus further comprising an accelerometer to measure an acceleration of the user, wherein the at least one dataset is transmitted based on a measured change in acceleration of the user to at least one of the PSAP and the cloud computing system;

determining, by the cloud computing system, one of a plurality of user states indicative of emergency assistance required by the user, based on the at least one feature extracted from the at least one dataset;

selecting a PSAP based on a proximity of the PSAP to the location of the user; and

transmitting, by the cloud computing system, at least the one of the plurality of user states to the wearable apparatus to instruct the apparatus to contact the PSAP based on the location of the user and based on the determined one of the user states.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining the one of the plurality of user states comprises classifying the at least one dataset as one of the plurality of user states.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising transmitting, to the apparatus, data indicative of the PSAP to be contacted.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the instruction to contact the PSAP is based on a proximity of the PSAP to the location of the user.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the PSAP is at least one of 9-1-1 or an emergency response center.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing a conference connection between the apparatus, the PSAP, and at least one of a call center or a care giver.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a wearable device, cause the wearable device to perform operations comprising;

obtaining datasets from a plurality of sensors, wherein one of datasets is a location of a user;

determining an amount of an available processing power of the wearable device,

selecting at least one of the obtained datasets;

when the determined amount of available processing power of the wearable device is a non-zero amount that is insufficient to support feature extraction from the selected at least one of the datasets, transmitting the selected at least one of the datasets to at least one of a public safety access point (PSAP) and a cloud computing system over a cellular network, the apparatus further comprising an accelerometer to measure an acceleration of the user, wherein the at least one dataset is transmitted based on a measured change in acceleration of the user;

receiving a classification of the at least one datasets as one of a plurality of user states indicative of emergency assistance required by the user from the cloud computing system based on at least one feature extracted from the datasets by the cloud computing system; and

contacting, by the processing device, a PSAP based on the location of the user, the classification and a proximity of the PSAP to the location of the user.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, the operations further comprising transmitting the one of the plurality of user states to the PSAP.